Pupils: Per Capita Costs

Shailesh Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the funding allocation per  (a) secondary and  (b) primary school pupil was in each local authority area in the East of England in each of the last five years.

Vernon Coaker: The per pupil revenue funding figures for primary and secondary schools pupils for East of England local authorities in 2004-05 and 2005-06 are as follows. These figures are in real terms:
	
		
			  Real terms revenue funding—EFS plus grants 
			  £ 
			   Primary pupils (3-10 years)  Secondary pupils (11-15 years) 
			   2004-05  2005-06  2004-05  2005-06 
			 Bedfordshire 3,637 3,861 4,624 4,809 
			 Luton 4,122 4,379 5,260 5,484 
			 Cambridgeshire 3,616 3,829 4,456 4,641 
			 Peterborough 3,931 4,157 4,935 5,138 
			 Essex 3,735 3,922 4,708 4,845 
			 Southend-on-Sea 3,806 4,005 4,854 5,035 
			 Thurrock 3,997 4,134 5,225 5,287 
			 Hertfordshire 3,663 3,828 4,627 4,738 
			 Norfolk 3,697 3,919 4,547 4,709 
			 Suffolk 3,495 3,696 4,397 4,545 
			  Notes:   1. Price Base: Real terms at 2008-09 prices, based on GDP deflators as at 30 June 2009.  2. Figures reflect relevant sub-blocks of Education Formula Spending (EFS) settlements and include the pensions transfer to EFS.  3. Total funding also includes all revenue grants in DfES Departmental Expenditure Limits relevant to pupils aged 3-15 and exclude education maintenance allowances (EMAs) and grants not allocated at LEA level.  4. The pupil numbers used to convert £ million figures to £ per pupil are those underlying the EFS settlement calculations.  5. Rounding: Figures are rounded to the nearest £10.  6. Status: Some of the grant allocations have not been finalised. If these do change, the effect on the funding figures is expected to be minimal. 
		
	
	The revenue per pupil figures shown in the following table are taken from the new Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). They are not comparable with those for the years 2004-05 to 2005-06 because the introduction of the DSG in 2006-07 fundamentally changed how local authorities are funded.
	The 2004-05 to 2005-06 figures are based on Education Formula Spending (EFS) which formed the education part of the Local Government Finance Settlement, plus various grants. This was an assessment of what local authorities needed to fund education rather than what they spent. The DSG is based largely on an authority's previous spending. In addition, the DSG has a different coverage to EFS. EFS comprised a schools block and an LEA block (to cover LEA central functions) whereas DSG only covers the school block. LEA block items are still funded through DCLG's Local Government Finance Settlement but education items cannot be separately identified. Consequently, there is a break in the Department's time series as the two sets of data are not comparable. An alternative time series is currently under development.
	To provide a comparison for 2006-07 DSG, the Department have isolated the schools block equivalent funding in 2005-06; as described above, this does not represent the totality of "education" funding in that year.
	The per pupil revenue funding figures for years 2005-06 (baseline) to 2008-09 for East of England local authorities are provided in the following table.
	The figures for 2009-10 are not currently available as figures for grants at a local authority level are still in the process of being finalised. The figures for 2009-10 will be available later in the financial year.
	As the DSG is a mechanism for distributing funding, a split between primary and secondary schools is not available. The figures below are for all funded pupils aged 3-19 and are in real terms:
	
		
			  Real terms revenue funding—DSG plus grants 
			  £ 
			   All pupils (3-19 years) 
			   2005-06( 1)  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 Bedfordshire 4,073 4,189 4,338 4,413 
			 Luton 4,523 4,716 4,906 4,957 
			 Cambridgeshire 3,932 4,059 4,201 4,281 
			 Peterborough 4,392 4,533 4,684 4,790 
			 Essex 4,117 4,228 4,382 4,447 
			 Southend-on-Sea 4,328 4,445 4579 4,624 
			 Thurrock 4,270 4,477 4,655 4,699 
			 Hertfordshire 4,144 4,234 4,382 4,504 
			 Norfolk 4,090 4,192 4,348 4,405 
			 Suffolk 3,957 4,080 4,249 4,323 
			 (1) Baseline.  Notes:   1. This covers funding through the Dedicated Schools Grant, School Standards Grant, School Standards Grant (Personalisation) and Standards Fund as well as funding from the Learning and Skills Council; it excludes grants which are not allocated at LA level.  2. Price Base: Real terms at 2008-09 prices, based on GDP deflators as at 30 June 2009.  3. These figures are for all funded pupils aged 3-19.  4. Figures have been rounded to the nearest £10.  5. Some of the grant allocations have not been finalised. If these do change, the effect on the funding figures is expected to be minimal.